
DATE: Wednesday, June 4, 1997               TAG: 9706040448

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   88 lines

KEARSARGE PULLS 1,250 MORE FROM SIERRA LEONE SAILORS AND MARINES GIVE UP BUNKS, AND STRUGGLE LONG HOURS TO FEED EVACUEES.

For the third time in a week, Marines working from the Norfolk-based assault ship Kearsarge on Tuesday rescued civilians fleeing fierce battles between mutinous soldiers and Nigerian troops in Sierra Leone.

Approximately 1,250 evacuees from 41 countries - about 40 of them Americans - were plucked from a beach ringed by 350 Camp Lejeune, N.C., Marines who herded them to the safety of waiting helicopters bound for the ship.

``Just picture Norfolk International Airport around Dec. 20 with everyone carrying bags, rushing around. That will give you some idea of what's going on in our hangar deck today,'' said Capt. Gregory W. Ertel, commander of Amphibious Squadron 4.

Ertel, speaking by satellite telephone, said the evacuations again went off without any injuries to his crew, just as they had Friday and Monday.

Sailors and Marines aboard the Kearsarge have evacuated about 2,500 civilians in three airlifts from the West African nation since hostilities broke out May 25 in Freetown, the capital city.

All have temporarily found shelter, food and protection aboard the Kearsarge, an 844-foot helicopter and troop carrier which has 1,200 sailors and 1,100 Marines aboard.

The evacuees are being flown ashore to the safety of nearby Guinea.

Tuesday's evacuations, which took six hours, again taxed the crew members nearly to the limit but left them proud and buoyed by their chance to help, said Ertel.

There were no injuries to any of the Marines who went ashore in armored vehicles to secure the landing area, he said.

However, two civilians who were evacuated had suffered gunshot wounds earlier, said Lt. Mark Eich, the medical officer aboard the Kearsarge.

``They are all in pretty good shape,'' he said. ``All are suffering from various degrees of dehydration. We have a couple of gunshot wounds, but they are not severe and we have some shrapnel injuries.''

Eich said most of the evacuees seemed frightened but relieved to be aboard. ``They are quite anxious when they get here,'' he said. ``We are trying to get them to regain some calmness in their lives.''

Marine Cpl. Terry Fellows, of Avon, N.Y., described a fairly orderly evacuation from the beach near the Cape Sierra Hotel, which served as a staging area for the helicopter airlift.

``We're not really tired,'' Fellows said. ``It's just the fact we're so busy and there's no time to think about it. We're constantly helping. They really overwhelmed us, and that takes over any idea of being tired.

``Morale is still high,'' he said. ``We did a lot of workups to this and it really paid off.''

Ertel said 450 Americans have been evacuated to the Kearsarge in the past week. In addition, more than 200 children have been taken aboard, including 18 orphans Monday who had been in line for adoption by Americans and Europeans.

Lt. Cmdr. Bill Phillips, of Deep Creek in Chesapeake, was pictured in The Virginian-Pilot Monday, holding one of the orphaned infants.

``As we get them processed, we try to take care of their medical needs and then move them on to Guinea,'' Ertel said. ``The remainder are being taken care of by this fine Navy and Marine Corps team on board.''

Sailors and Marines have given up their bunks for the children and women, Ertel said.

``We have cots everywhere and people living just about everywhere,'' he said.

Feeding the evacuees is constant, he said.

``Young sailors have been working almost around-the-clock in shifts to provide food and drink for the people we have aboard.

``We started out today serving beef stew and rice and, at some point, we switched over, serving macaroni, with cookies, juice and water in between. If they ask for it, we try to accommodate it.''

Ertel said he has no indication of whether more evacuations will be required.

But despite the planning, Ertel said, he did not expect the high number of people Kearsarge and its men and women would be caring for.

The Kearsarge left Norfolk two weeks early, on April 15, to relieve the assault ship Nassau off Zaire, since renamed Congo, as a rebellion there neared the capital of Kinshasa. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Evacuees from Sierra Leone cross the deck of the Kearsarge after

arriving on a Marine helicopter Tuesday. About 1,250 evacuees from

41 countries were plucked from a beach ringed by 350 Marines from

Camp Lejeune, N.C., Tuesday.

Map

The Virginian-Pilot KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY U.S. MARINE CORPS REFUGEES

SIERRA LEONE